Friday, May 25, 2012

"Limes"

"Limes are a refreshing summer fruit." Friday is a good day to be lighthearted. Enjoy something as simple as fresh fruit with all of its color.

Today's piece is actually a collaboration. Sue Costa applied the molding paste and the stamped imagery of what became the limes. She also applied a bit of color. It was then my job to finish the piece and get it posted.

Apart from the limes, the shapes are soft and defined by color alone with no hard lines. However, when there is this much texture applied in this way, there are many smaller shapes created. After determining that her circular stamped shapes were going to be limes, I applied some newsprint with a lime green followed by some pencil lines. I then prepared the surface to receive pastels by brushing on some Liquitex Clear Gesso. The aqua and lime green pastels then formed a block of color running down the right and bottom edge. The placement of lettering was then easy to locate. It needed to be at the center of interest and connect the fruit shapes.

Working on a collaboration with another artist is a wonderful design exercise and will teach you how to give up control. I had to build this piece based on someone else's choices. Now it is my time to return the favor and begin a piece for Sue to finish and post on her blog. We'll see how that goes. Chances are it will be exciting and fantastic. So there you have it. A few thoughts about collaboration and what you can learn from this process.

About Me

I have chosen this venue to give myself a strong challenge of posting daily and moving out of my comfort zone. Although I have done my share of painting and mixed media, I have chosen to combine my favorite things and create 6 x 6's with an emphasis on hand lettering, including my original quotes, expressive drawing and stamped geometric forms. My youngest daughter, Alice, is an English teacher and will also be contributing to the project. Enjoy.